Rebecca Wells, MD, MPH

About Rebecca Wells

Rebecca Wells, MD, MPH, earned her medical degree from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and completed a neurology residency at the University of Virginia in 2008. She completed a three-year research fellowship in complementary and integrative medicine at Harvard Medical School and a fellowship in headache and facial pain at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.

Wells’ fascination with the brain and mind-body connection began during her postgraduate studies of the impact of meditative techniques on adults with mild cognitive impairment who were susceptible to dementia. In 2010, she received a master of public health degree in clinical effectiveness from the Harvard School of Public Health. She joined the neurology department at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 2012.

Focusing her research on mind-body therapies for adults with headaches, Wells conducts clinical trials exploring meditative techniques for migraine, examining how meditation and wellness affect stress and pain mechanisms. She is currently studying the effectiveness of eight weeks of stress reduction training in adults with migraine headaches. Wells also examines the influence of mind-body techniques on pain responses and the effect of thermal stimulation on the migraine brain.

In her research, Wells explores industry partnerships to examine the efficacy and mechanisms of mind-body treatments for headache. She has unique expertise overseeing clinical trial studies that research the effects of mind-body therapies on the brain.